Thanks to a tie-up between Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT) and the postal department, postmen in Jharkhand have now become the poster boys of family planning.
   Anil Kumar, Director, Head Post Office, Ranchi says: “As per the tie-up with the HLFPPT, postmen attached with as many 131 post offices all across Jharkhand have been assigned the task of retailing 16 products which include condoms, huggies, iron tablets, peels, sanitised napkins, ORS and delivery kits at the doorstep of the letter recipients. Though the postal department gets 30 per cent commission on the sale of these products, the whole idea is to make the health awareness and family planning campaign a success”.
   Justifying the tie-up with the postal department, an HLFPPT official said: “Given that the post offices have their reach in the far-flung areas, we are confident that our campaign on health and family planning can yield desired results. The postmen interact with people for a few minutes. Therefore, they could be very effective in retailing a such products.”
Welcome move
   Welcoming the move, social worker Faisal Anurag says: “There are several steps taken by the government in the past to check the spread of diseases arising out of unprotected sex and the use of non-sanitised napkins among women folk. While people generally hesitate to buy  such things from crowded shops in the urban areas, these products are conspicuous by their absence in the shops in remote villages.”
   “Initially, we were uncomfortable. But now it’s all right. People now know that products like condoms are available with us for sale. And we are readily approached,” said Bindeshwari Mishra who has been working as a postman for the last 17 years.